


Snowsquall

by merewiowing



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken
Genre: Crushes, Nonbinary Character, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2014-12-03
Packaged: 2018-02-28 01:17:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2713616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merewiowing/pseuds/merewiowing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Florina, Ninian, and keeping warm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snowsquall

The weather is getting worse.

The wind has been getting stronger for a while now, bringing even more biting cold with it. On top of that, a particularly strong gust suddenly blows your hair into your eyes. You hold tight onto Makar’s reins with your other hand as you clumsily try to tuck it back. With these thick gloves on, this is much harder that it has any right to be, but you don’t want to risk taking one off and losing it. When you finally manage to get your hair in order and can see clearly again, you look around and notice that the snowfall is turning into a snowstorm. It was almost unnoticeable before, with only a few errant flakes lazily dropping from the sky. Now it’s gotten strong enough to obscure your field of vision and make you confused about your surroundings.

There’s no point trying to scout in these conditions. It doesn’t look like the weather will clear up before nightfall, either. You look around one more time and then slowly guide Makar down to land.

You try to find a flat, smooth area, but with the snow blowing everywhere and quickly accumulating into snowdrifts, it’s very hard to get a good idea of the terrain. Eventually you notice a small area partially hidden from the storm by nearby trees. You circle down and land without much trouble, but as soon as Makar’s hooves touch the ground, you realise you’ve underestimated the amount of snow greatly. Your pegasus is standing almost knee-deep in a snowdrift.

You shake off some snow from your cloak and cap before dismounting. You have to hold on to the saddle not to lose balance yourself. If you fell down in this snowdrift, your clothes would get wet, and the journey back to camp would be even riskier. Thankfully, you’ve been in situations like this before; even if training hadn’t prepared you for this, just living in Ilia taught you how to handle pegasi in most weather conditions. You reach for Makar’s reins and slowly guide her out of this snowdrift. Luckily, it only takes a few steps. You let out a relieved sigh and start in the direction you hope the camp is.

The wind is now howling in your ears, but suddenly you think you can hear someone’s voice drowned in it. Startled, you stop and look around. As far as you can see, there’s only the rapidly increasing snowfall. You resume walking, as fast as the deep snow allows; you want to get back as soon as possible. Just as you start wondering if you should rather look for somewhere to wait out the snowstorm, you hear the voice again, this time much clearer.

You look straight ahead and narrow your eyes. You think you can make out the silhouette of someone approaching you through the snow. You halt your pegasus, and then –

“Miss Florina!”

– and then you hear Ninian’s voice. It must’ve been em before, too; you wonder how long ey has been looking for you.

“I’m here!” you call out as you raise your arm and wave.

A moment later, Ninian is standing in front of you, flushed and breathing heavily. Ey’s holding a bundle of cloth in front of em. As you wait for em to catch eir breath, you notice ey is only wearing a cloak and a shawl, one you don’t recognise, over eir usual dress.

This worries you, and you ask, “Ninian, aren’t you cold like this? Would you like me to lend you my gloves?” Before ey can answer, you take your gloves off and offer them to em.

Ninian, still breathless, shakes eir head. There’s another strong gust of wind, and you immediately regret taking your gloves off. Nevertheless, you thrust them forward again.

“I’m alright, Miss Florina,” Ninian says finally. “I’m alright. Dame Isadora was kind enough to lend me her shawl.”

Ah, this explains why you’ve never seen it before. You nod and put your gloves back on. And not a moment too soon; your fingers were beginning to feel stiff. You still think that Ninian’s must be really cold, too, but if ey says it’s fine…

“Actually, Miss Florina, I was worried about you,” Ninian continues. Ey unwraps the bundle ey’s been holding to reveal it’s another cloak. “When the weather got worse I thought you might be too cold up in the air. So I decided to bring you something warm, just in case.” Ey smiles softly and holds the cloak out to you.

You feel your cheeks get warmer and you shake your head quickly.

“No, no, I’m alright. Thank you,” you stammer, suddenly unable to meet eir eyes. When you do, ey’s still smiling, offering the cloak to you. You swallow and take a deeper breath to compose yourself; cold air enters your lungs but you’re too distracted to pay attention to the unpleasant sensation. You speak up again: “Ninian, you should wear this cloak instead. Your dress is very thin, isn’t it?”

Ninian nods and begins to fold the cloak up again.

“I suppose it is, but it doesn’t matter. I’m used to the cold, Miss Florina. I was born in Ilia too, remember?”

You do remember. You definitely remember the surprise, the feeling of having something in common with em, of finding someone from your homeland where you least expected. Just thinking about that conversation makes you smile.

Makar whinnies, startling you both, and shakes her head. Some snow falls from her mane; you reach out to brush more of it out. The weight of it must be irritating her. You know this feeling well; when you first started wearing your hair long, you were very surprised by how much it can bother you just to have a lot of snow in it.

You wonder if Ninian has ever had this problem. Probably not; eir hair is straight and smooth, quite unlike your curls. You turn around to see how it looks like now. There are a few snowflakes in it (how could there not be, after ey was out in this snowstorm?) but they don’t look like a bother at all. In fact, you find yourself thinking they look more like eir hair ornaments. This realisation makes your cheeks flush again.

“I, I think we should get going. Back to camp, I mean,” you say, trying to distract yourself. You take a look around; the wind has quieted down a little without you noticing, and the snowfall is less dense than a moment ago. “Before the storm gets worse again.”

Ninian nods again and turns around, gesturing with eir head toward the direction from which ey has come from.

“We’re not very far from the camp,” ey says, still looking in the distance. “But it’s getting late, and in this snow it will be hard to walk… We should hurry, Miss Florina.”

Ey’s right, of course. You rub your hands together (even in these gloves your fingers feel like icicles) and reach for Makar’s reins, when an idea suddenly strikes you.

“Ninian, would you like to fly with me? It would be faster, and I’m sure Makar wouldn’t mind.” Your pegasus shakes her head again, as if to agree with you. “You would have to promise to wear the cloak, though. It’s very cold in the air.”

Ninian had told you that ey has never ridden on a pegasus before and you’re a little worried ey will decline out of fear. You look at eir face and see eir eyes widen, and you open your mouth to apologise, no, no, forget about that, let’s just walk, but then ey clasps eir hands together and smiles widely, and you realise, oh, that was a _good_ surprise.

“Miss Florina, I would love to! If it isn’t too much trouble for you, of course,” ey says, already unfolding the cloak and throwing it over eir shoulders. “Are you certain Makar won’t mind?”

You smile and move closer to the saddle, adjusting it a little.

“I’m sure, Ninian. She likes you a lot, I’ve told you before,” you say, patting the pegasus’ side gently. She nickers softly and you smile in recognition, and then you turn back to Ninian and extend your hand to em. “Here, I’ll help you up.”

It takes a moment, but soon enough Ninian is sitting on Makar’s back, wearing two cloaks for extra warmth, as comfortable as ey can be. You remind em to tell you immediately if ey feels uncomfortable or unsafe in any way, twice, and then you mount the pegasus yourself.

“I promise I’ll fly as gently and slowly as possible,” you say, shifting around in the saddle. There’s a bit less space than you expected, but that’s fine. You want to ask em to alert you if anything’s wrong one more time, but you barely manage to say two words before you feel eir arms wrapping around your waist.

You must have made a sound, or otherwise reacted without realising it, because Ninian quickly pulls away.

“I’m sorry, Miss Florina! I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. I won’t do that again,” ey says. Even without looking at em, you can tell ey’s genuinely sorry. You feel a blush creeping up your cheeks again.

“Ninian,” you begin. You take a deep breath, close your eyes, and then continue, “It didn’t make me uncomfortable. It’s alright.”

There is a moment of silence, and then ey ask, “Are you sure, Miss Florina?”

“I’m sure, Ninian. In fact…” You hesitate. “It felt nice. Warm.”

You hear em make a small ‘ah’ noise. You almost regret admitting that – your cheeks are burning and you’re afraid you were too forward – but then eir arms slowly slide around you again, and you breathe a sigh of relief.

“You’re right, Miss Florina,” ey says quietly. “It’s warm.”

You nod and murmur something in agreement. Your face still feels hot, but that doesn’t matter – soon enough you will be in the air and the wind will be cutting cold. And after that, you will be back in the camp, hopefully eating something warm, or at least sitting by a fire.

“Hold tight, Ninian,” you say, and spur Makar to go.

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to Em/tumblr user goldoans for their help!


End file.
